Your Own Personal Favorites List

So I figured we weren't talking about video games nearly enough in here, so this is happening. Just lay out your list (of any length) of your all-time favorites, and be sure to elaborate on why you chose each game.

My own list, in no particular order:

Metroid Prime: This game is a hardcore masterpiece of environment. For once, the video game isn't concerned with telling you a story as much as it is concerned with immersing you in a world of existential loneliness and subtle beauty. Further accomplishments include a truly excellent soundtrack, and the fact that the art team was able to pull off such a game using only GameCube graphic capabilities.

Morrowind: I admit, the game had zero gameplay. However, the fact that I consider it good enough to be on this list without that is a testament to the genius that went into designing the game world. Bethesda really has a knack for creating unbelievably intricate game universes with infinite replay value. Intensely creative fantasy universe? Check. Excellent quest writing? Check. Fun gameplay? Well, about that...

Portal: Portal has it all, I'm afraid. Artwork that stands out, gameplay that is creative and intoxicatingly fun, and a story that is both perfectly written and perfectly executed. As far as quality goes, this game most certainly takes the cake (ha) for being the most well thought out and displaying unquestionably perfect execution of its ideas. It may be a short game, but consider the best interactive short story ever written.

Let the record show that once I get my hands on original Fallout, it will be probably be appended to this list.

My first game was Rogue Squadron, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. "Ya like shootin' Y-wings, do ya?"

The Call of Duty franchise, no matter how much Clark may hate Activision, is also very special to me. As a young lad I played that game for ridiculous amounts of time. I still miss the United Offensive multiplayer. My disc is scratched.

Just looking around my room at this point. Grand Theft Auto was always ridiculous fun. Started on Vice City and didn't look back... I've played the previous games but 3d is really where the franchise became memorable. San Andreas was hilarious... why no bicycles in GTAIV?

I played the first Company of Heroes and that game has always appealed to me even though I've never been good at the micromanaging part of strategy games. Probably because in that game good strategy outweighed some of the micromanagement issues I had.

Age of Mythology is probably the only other RTS that I enjoyed, simply because I'm a huge mythology fan.

The Splinter Cell series, by which I mean Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory, and Conviction. Not Double Agent, and I played the first far too long ago to remember it properly. Sam Fisher, as I have previously extolled, is a badass who has few equals. P.S. I wrote a Conviction review for my blog. *looks down at sig*

Assassin's Creed has misstepped many times but it's a very interesting two games.

Half-life 2 and it's episodes are my absolute favorite games to come from Valve. TF2 used to be fun but I don't find it very appealing anymore what with all the unbalanaced items and ridiculous updates. Portal has just been so overrated that I've become jaded to it, but it's still a great game. (That really proves my point about the ridiculous love it gets... its one of the best games I've ever played and I still call it overrated.)

Mass Effect 1 was interesting enough, but ME2 blew the first game so far out of the water that I can never play it again. It's the best Bioware game I've ever played. The plot and characters are outstanding, and it has both one of the best beginnings of a game I've ever seen and, though I'm not saying this in absolute terms, probably the best ending mission I've ever played.

Arkham Asylum, too, was a really great game with a fantastic beginning. Funnily enough, the game shifted Batman, for me, from a level of mostly indifferent respect, to "OH MY GOD HE'S THE PHLOXING BATMAN." Not that the character isn't still overrated, but I appreciate him a lot more now.

I'm going to miss a few games, I can tell...

Warcraft games were awesome, and I really do love WoW, if only for the story and the epicness of the characters I've created.

I used to play Red Alert 2 like crazy. Go Commies! "Conscript reporting..." Much more fun than Yuri's Revenge, because the cloning vats were still Soviet structures.

Psychonauts is one of the funniest, no, scratch that, it is the funniest game I've ever played, and remains my favorite from Tim Schafer. I'll never look at milkmen the same way again. That game had some pretty amazing music, too.In the same vein, Full Throttle was also awesome.

Um... I played Mario Kart: Double Dash and Super Smash Bros. Melee with friends a lot. Melee was extraordinarly fun, and I kick ass at Mewtwo. I remember some website rated all the characters, and Mewtwo was dead last, and everyone always told me so when I played. Well, my friends don't mention that anymore. Both games are better by far than their Wii sequels.My Gamecube broke but just the memories makes me want to buy one on the cheap.

I remember playing Double Dragon on the NES at my uncle's house when I was a kid. Years later, me and my brother got the GBA version, with the linkup thing. That was super fun.

Well, that was thorough, I think. If I remember anything I'll be sure to come back.

Splinter Cell is one of my all-time favorite series of video games. My freshman college roommate played it when the first one came out, and I was intrigued with the concept of an anti-shoot-'em-up game. Since then the games have only gotten better. And Sam Fisher is an awesome character - the charisma, the brilliance...and as Plaz said, he's a total badass.

I also like the Halo series. While Master Chief may not be Sam Fisher, he's still a law unto himself, and you don't want to get on his bad side. And the stories and gameplay have been nothing but awesome.

At this point, I'm pretty much out of video games I've got - I only got a console a few months ago - and I'm going off some games I've played in the past on PC. I played GTA Vice City for a while - again, my freshman roommate. It was fun. I think the coolest part was just having such a wide, expansive map to explore.

Of course, some of my all-time favorite games have been the Sim games - SimTower, SimFarm, and, of course, SimCity. SimCity 4 was the awesomest of the lot (compared to the lameness that is SimCity Societies and will never touch my hard drive). It's such a great feeling to be able to create a city from scratch. Nurture it, develop it, grow it...and sometimes wipe it all out with a well-timed tornado.

Splinter Cell is one of my all-time favorite series of video games. My freshman college roommate played it when the first one came out, and I was intrigued with the concept of an anti-shoot-'em-up game. Since then the games have only gotten better. And Sam Fisher is an awesome character - the charisma, the brilliance...and as PlazApoco said, he's a total badass.

Credit where credit is due. Speaking of, if you've played Conviction, you should post your thoughts in the video game thread.

I also like the Halo series. While Master Chief may not be Sam Fisher, he's still a law unto himself, and you don't want to get on his bad side. And the stories and gameplay have been nothing but awesome.

This is true. I haven't played much Halo single player (never owned an Xbox, and I hear the PC versions are atrocities) but I've always had a fun time with multiplayer, and what I do know of the plot is really cool.

At this point, I'm pretty much out of video games I've got - I only got a console a few months ago - and I'm going off some games I've played in the past on PC. I played GTA Vice City for a while - again, my freshman roommate. It was fun. I think the coolest part was just having such a wide, expansive map to explore.

You might want to look into GTAIV then. It all takes place in a really cool rendition of NYC and some of the surrounding area. It takes a more serious turn than the other games, which may not be to your liking depending on whether or not you liked the goofiness of the franchise, but the gameplay is really vastly improved (you can actually use cover instead of dealing with frustrating shoot-'em-up missions that basically necessitated the use of body armor), and so are the physics, graphics, etc. The first time I had the "wow this game is really awesome" moment was when I ran out into the street, expecting the cars to screech to a halt like in San Andreas and Vice City, only to have one slide along the road, like an actual car, hitting me and taking out my legs as I rolled across the windshield and slammed to the street on the other side.

It does have its annoyances, but it also has some really good stuff going for it.

Credit where credit is due. Speaking of, if you've played Conviction, you should post your thoughts in the video game thread.

This is true. I haven't played much Halo single player (never owned an Xbox, and I hear the PC versions are atrocities) but I've always had a fun time with multiplayer, and what I do know of the plot is really cool.

You might want to look into GTAIV then. It all takes place in a really cool rendition of NYC and some of the surrounding area. It takes a more serious turn than the other games, which may not be to your liking depending on whether or not you liked the goofiness of the franchise, but the gameplay is really vastly improved (you can actually use cover instead of dealing with frustrating shoot-'em-up missions that basically necessitated the use of body armor), and so are the physics, graphics, etc. The first time I had the "wow this game is really awesome" moment was when I ran out into the street, expecting the cars to screech to a halt like in San Andreas and Vice City, only to have one slide along the road, like an actual car, hitting me and taking out my legs as I rolled across the windshield and slammed to the street on the other side.

It does have its annoyances, but it also has some really good stuff going for it.

Whoops, looked at the wrong name. And no, I haven't played Conviction yet. First off, I'm not willing to shell out $60 for a video game that will be half that price by year's end. And I'm a chronological player - I haven't actually played Double Agent, and I only got about halfway through Chaos Theory on PC before the game crashed, and I could get no further. So I won't play conviction until I can get past CT and DA.

Well, I've had Halo for PC, and my brother has Halo 2 for PC. Neither of us have had any problems with it.

Interesting. Might have to look into that. Been years since I've played GTA.

Okay, first off, all time glory has to go to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Any one of its elements would have made it a good game--the wonderfully fun and innovative gameplay, the awe-inspiring story, the beautiful graphics--but together, they formed a masterpiece the likes of which will probably never be seen again.

There are still times when I wonder if it would have been better if the Warcraft franchise had ended then. Not that there haven't been awesome moments since then, but everything feels slightly disappointing now. And yes, I did just say that I sometimes wish the game that introduced the Blood Elves had never happened.

Since we're on the topic of Blizzard, I also have to mention Starcraft. It did have some flaws, but it was still excellent overall. Jim Raynor is the definition of awesome, and I adore the Protoss.

No One Lives Forever: The Operative is my favourite FPS of all time. It was loaded with humor, excitement, and general awesomeness, and it was one of the most infinitely replayable games I've ever encountered. Not to mention that mission where you fall out of a burning plane without a parachute and have to wrestle a parachute from one of the enemies while in free-fall. Groovy, baby, yeah!

One very obscure favourite is the Myth series (note: I don't count Myth III when I say this; it was an abomination). Its gameplay was innovative on a level still hardly seen (and this was back when 3D graphics were a new thing)*, and it had one of the most immersive worlds I've ever seen. The story was simply brilliant (imagine if Warcraft, the reimagined BSG, and Lord of the Rings had a baby), and was wonderfully original in its world-building. Much as I love the traditional fantasy archetypes, I also love it when people create new races. The only traditional archetype used was Dwarves, and they were one of the most awesome parts of the game (crazy, sadistic little men with molotov cocktails FTW!). I sorely regret that this franchise didn't last.

I would also like to mention the first Dungeon Siege. I understand why real RPGers scoff at it, but I found it very fun. I also think its story was terribly underrated. Not that it was brilliant by any means, but it was a lot more interesting than the reviewers gave it credit for.

I also gotta throw out an honorable mention to the Age of Empires/Age of Mythology franchise. Those were always good for some fun.

*Okay, it is worth mentioning that I'm a little out of the loop on the video game front, so it is possible that someone has done something along the lines of Myth, but I've never heard about it.

No One Lives Forever: The Operative is my favourite FPS of all time. It was loaded with humor, excitement, and general awesomeness, and it was one of the most infinitely replayable games I've ever encountered. Not to mention that mission where you fall out of a burning plane without a parachute and have to wrestle a parachute from one of the enemies while in free-fall. Groovy, baby, yeah!

You gotta love games that make you say "Holy phlox. I.Just. Did that."

Just cuz I knew you guys would be the ones in this thread, I had to post just so you could laugh and spit out your diet coke.

I have never played or purchased a computer video game - ever. They are a time waster and I have no more spare time than hopping over here for a few minutes a day. Actually, I take that back. My friend Marques over here tells me that once at his house I played Midtown Madness and killed every pedestrian and purposely ran over trees, slammed into walls, and jumped over curbs just because it was fun to do. I wrecked countless cars and laughed more than played.

(Marques is now happy that I said all that.)

Yes, I am. Signed: Marques the Truthful

Whatever.

President, P.U.T. Procrastinators Unite TomorrowThe bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.Mac Anderson

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:16-17

Just cuz I knew you guys would be the ones in this thread, I had to post just so you could laugh and spit out your diet coke.

I have never played or purchased a computer video game - ever. They are a time waster.

I am not drinking diet coke (diet is for lamers), spitting out what I am drinking, or laughing, and I don't mean that in an "I am not amused" sort of way, I mean that in an "I'm not laughing at this moment" sort of way. True, some games are time wasters, but so are books, movies, and pretty much everything else ever invented. Art itself (to drag some of the below comment up here) is a time waster.

Games are not a time waster. They are an art form, and we, the players, are the noble patrons of this art.

Some games are time wasters. You'd be hard-pressed to find artistic merit to Pacman.And saying that all games are art is just as foolish as Roger Ebert saying games can't be art... you're just on the opposite end of the spectrum. I don't expect, or even want, every book I read or game I play to be a piece of art, and the same goes for every other form of media I consume.

Some games are time wasters. You'd be hard-pressed to find artistic merit to Pacman.And saying that all games are art is just as foolish as Roger Ebert saying games can't be art... you're just on the opposite end of the spectrum. I don't expect, or even want, every book I read or game I play to be a piece of art, and the same goes for every other form of media I consume.

I agree that not all games are art, but I don't generally pay for games that I don't think are.

oh my gosh you guys i am SICK at Madden. also Lego Batman is hella fun.

Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd the
earth much? Have you practis'd so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?
Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of
all poems...